How to Join the Mile High Club
by Bluebeard's Wife
Summary: Post Dublin AU in which Brendan didn't go to prison.


As Ste prattled on excitedly about his expectations for Vegas, Brendan stared out of the small oval window of the airplane, quickly tapping his foot on the sticky floor. There was nothing to see but the white, foggy mist of the surrounding clouds. Brendan wasn't exactly afraid of flying, but he certainly didn't enjoy it. Having nothing to focus his attention on and no room to move around left him restless and anxious. Being enclosed in a long flying tube with no control over his surroundings was definitely not ideal.

"You alright, you?" the change in Ste's tone snapped Brendan back into the present moment.

"Are you even listening?"

"Yea, yeah, 'course I am," said Brendan hastily, racking his brain for the words that had been washing over him for the past half hour.

He waved his hand carelessly as he recalled, "You can't wait to see the Mirage, we should go to Cirque de Soleil, blah blah blah."

"Oh if that's how it's gonna be, maybe I should just ask for a separate room, yeah? 'Cause..." Ste started, but Brendan's voice easily cut across his.

"Steven," the darkly mustached man said in that tone reserved specifically for his lover's name. "Do shut up, won't you?"

He raised his eyebrows and looked directly at Ste. His young partner looked indignant for a moment and then burst into a stifled laugh.

"I _have_ been going on for a bit, eh?"

Brendan chuckled.

"I'm just nervous, I suppose." Ste continued. "It's a proper long trip and I've never been to America without the kids, have I?" He paused and looked over at Brendan. "What? What are you looking at me like that for?"

Brendan, lips slightly parted, had lowered his eyes slowly to Ste's moving mouth, and the meaning of the look was unmistakable.

"Wh- No. I know that look, and the answer is no, Brendan." Ste whispered, stressing his boyfriend's name, but the corners of his mouth twitched in amusement.

"Ever heard of the Mile High Club?" Brendan's voice was low and gravelly, his eyes still focused on Ste's lips.

"No!" Ste said a little more loudly than he intended. Looking around to assure himself the rumbling noise of the engines had drowned out his refusal sufficiently to keep their conversation private, he lowered his voice again, "I mean, yes, but no, that is not happening."

Brendan looked casually away, fixing his eyes on the vague outline of the plane's wing. He let out a small grunt in response to Ste's protestation and smirked almost imperceptibly. There were six hours of flight left. He could definitely work within those constraints.

"Brendan?" Ste's voice interrupted the silence a couple of minutes later.

"Hm?" Brendan glanced briefly at his unknowing prey.

"It's not like I don't want to..." Ste whispered. "It's just, there are a lot of people here, right? We can't just... you know? What if we get caught?"

Brendan clicked his teeth. "S'okay," he said, looking back out the window.

Ste shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He didn't like seeing Brendan this calm. It usually meant that a storm was coming.

"Can I offer you a drink?" The scent of flowery perfume washed over Ste before he registered the pretty, young flight attendant, wearing a blue and white uniform, at his side. She smiled coyly at him, and he felt himself blush. A quick glance to his right revealed that the moment had not escaped Brendan's attention. A grin spread on Brendan's face that would have fooled anyone but Ste.

"No, ta, we're good." Ste blurted out hastily, praying the flight attendant would leave them alone before Brendan had a chance to have a go at her.

Oblivious, she turned to Brendan. "You as well, sir?"

Brendan's eyes were fixed on the young woman's, a seemingly delighted smile still adorning his face. Slowly, his hand reached out and squeezed Ste's knee, creeping slowly upwards toward his thigh. The flight attendant darted a quick glance at Ste and let out an awkward laugh.

"We're good. Thank you." Brendan said, never taking his eyes off hers.

His hand was dangerously close to Ste's crotch, and Ste started squirming in his seat. With a small cough and a chuckle, the flight attendant moved to the passengers sitting in the next row.

Ste breathed a sigh of relief before realizing that Brendan's hand was still resting near his crotch, squeezing ever so slightly. He looked up to meet Brendan's gaze.

"Pretty, ain't she?" Brendan said, still with that ridiculous grin.

"Nah. I thought she seemed pretty ordinary," Ste lied.

"Huh." Abruptly, Brendan moved his hand away from Ste, looking back out the window, and the sudden absence of warmth and pressure on his thigh made Ste's stomach drop. Why did things always have to be so complicated with Brendan?

Brendan could practically feel Ste's concerned gaze on him. He continued to stare out the window, keeping his face as expressionless as he could. He knew Ste wasn't stupid, but sometimes he was almost too easy to unnerve. Almost.

If he was honest, Brendan had to admit that he really enjoyed playing these games with Ste. He was especially fond of the way the games had evolved over the years. At this point, he didn't even consider them games so much as flirting. Foreplay, even.

As nice as it was to remain in the comfort of the straight and narrow path in his legal and interpersonal dealings these days, Brendan missed the thrill of his life of crime. The power struggles, the games, the uncertainty. Luckily, he could still always lure his Steven into playing.

He was confident that Ste felt the same way, although he might not have been as willing to admit it. He recalled the day Ste conned him out of the loan for his deli with an odd sense of pride. As devastating as it was at the time, Brendan now knew that that was the moment Ste had become a worthy adversary.

"D'you want some?" In a pathetic attempt at a peace offering, Ste pushed a bag of crisps under Brendan's nose.

"Bribing me with food now? That's a new low, even for you, Steven."

"What'd you mean bribe?" Ste played along, pouting. He was still learning the rules of the game, but he held his own. He knew the effect those pouty lips had on his boyfriend. "I gotta bribe you to talk to me now, is it?"

"I don't want crisps." Brendan said, pushing the bag out of his face and, in one fluid motion, reaching into the opened backpack between Ste's feet so that his face was level with his lover's crotch.

"I'm looking for something a little..." He looked up at Ste from below, "...juicier."

Ste choked on a crisp for a moment as Brendan pulled out a small bag of gummy worms.

"These will do," he said, smirking, and reclined back in his seat.

Ste watched Brendan for a few minutes, as the dark haired man shoved gummy worms unceremoniously into his mouth, chewing elaborately. As odd as it sounded, watching Brendan eat was one of those small pleasures that gave Ste warm and fuzzy feelings in his chest.

"Wha?" Brendan looked at him, mouth full.

"You have something in your mustache," Ste said with a small smile.

Brendan swallowed his food and presented his face to Ste, waiting. There was nothing in Brendan's mustache – gummy worms didn't leave crumbs – but Ste took the opportunity to stroke Brendan's facial hair with his thumb, pretending to get something out of it, and then, without thinking, planted a quick peck on his lips. Before he could pull away, Brendan's fingers were entwined with the hair on the back of his neck, pulling him closer, and his warm tongue slipped between Ste's half-opened lips.

"Brendan..." Ste muttered, pulling away after a brief moment.

He looked around to see if anyone noticed, but the cabin was in semi-darkness and everyone was either asleep or preoccupied with their own entertainment.

"Well, if you would just go to the loo with me, I wouldn't have to do that." Brendan grumbled, reluctantly releasing the back of Ste's head.

Ste found himself considering it. It was a long flight. It was boring. It would be quite something to shag Brendan 40,000 feet above the ocean.

"No," he said out loud. "That's daft. What if we get caught?"

"What are they gonna do, kick us out?" Brendan replied easily.

Ste did not really have a response for that. What was the worst that could happen? He glanced around the cabin again at the other passengers. To their left was a middle aged man in a business suit, working on his laptop and looking annoyed at the lanky teenage boy next to him, who kept turning around to chat with the two almost identical looking teenage boys behind him. In front of them, the backs of unknown heads in the semi-darkness did not seem overly menacing either. Many had already turned off their overhead lights and were dozing peacefully. The restroom "available" sign glowed green from the front of the first class cabin, practically calling Ste's name. Ste gradually became aware of a new sensation on his right hand – Brendan had rested his hand on top of his and was slowly running his thumb along the inside of his wrist. A small buzz seemed to run from Brendan's fingertip straight to Ste's groin. He willed himself to look at Brendan and was unprepared for the sight of Brendan's eyes peering at him through lowered lids.

Brendan leaned in so that his lips almost brushed Ste's ear. In an even, measured tone, he whispered, "I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'm going to leave the door unlocked. I'm going to give you three minutes to make up your mind. And then I'm going to come back."

He shifted in his seat, and Ste found himself momentarily trapped underneath Brendan's straddling legs, their eyes locked and lips mere inches apart, as Brendan excruciatingly slowly eased his way into the aisle. With a quick nod at Ste, Brendan adjusted the collar of his pale pink button down shirt, inhaled sharply, and turned abruptly towards the restroom. Before Ste had time to digest what had just happened, he had disappeared behind the small door, the sign still flashing "available."

Ste licked his lips nervously, looking around to see if anyone had noticed Brendan's departure. Everyone but the businessman to his left was asleep, and he was so absorbed in the bluish screen of his laptop that he was completely oblivious to his surroundings.

"Right," Ste said to himself in an attempt to steady his nerves.

One hand wrapped around the small bottle of lube in his pocket, Brendan had closed the restroom door upon entering. He looked at his reflection in the mirror and fixed his hair, humming to himself. He was certain that Ste was riled up enough and would join him shortly. He leaned against the wall behind the small toilet, checking his reflection once again.

As Ste went to stand up, two realizations dawned on him: First, that he had already gotten hard just thinking of the possibility of joining his lover in the loo, and second, that he had forgotten to unbuckle his seatbelt. The combination of the two realizations was rather painful. With a quiet yelp, Ste sat back down and undid the belt that had caused the sharp pang.

This was all Brendan's fault. It was as though Ste was unable to think clearly whenever he was around. This was probably part of his plan. He probably got off on causing Ste pain. Not probably, definitely! This was typical Brendan. Without thinking, Ste stood up and rushed towards the restroom - Brendan was about to get a piece of his mind.

In the bathroom, Brendan was starting to get nervous. Surely, Ste was coming to join him. What was taking this long? Could he have miscalculated how badly Ste wanted him? As a small wave of panic washed over him, Brendan saw the door latch turn, let out a sigh of relief, and reclined casually against the wall behind him.

Ste flung the small door open and rushed inside, slamming the door behind him. He was unprepared for how tiny the restroom was and found himself suddenly pressed up against a surprised looking Brendan, inhaling his musky scent. He braced himself anyway.

"What are you playing at, Brendan?"

The confusion on Brendan's face was genuine, and the realization of how ridiculous his anger was suddenly washed over Ste.

"What are you talking about?" Brendan asked.

"I, uh..." Oh fuck it, Ste thought to himself, and pressed his lips firmly against his boyfriend's.

After the briefest moment of hesitation, Brendan returned the kiss and pushed Ste hard into the closed door behind him. They kissed frantically, pawing at each other. Brendan was unable to contain the small grunts that Ste's kisses always elicited from him.

"Steven..." he growled while moving his head to nibble on Ste's neck, one hand firmly entrenched in his partner's hair and the other expertly removing his belt buckle.

Ste thought for a moment of all the oblivious strangers sitting mere feet from them, separated only by a thin wall of plastic. Instead of scared or worried, he felt exhilarated. And then all thought was swept from his mind as he felt the cold air around his hips that meant that Brendan had succeeded in removing his slacks and boxers.

As Brendan attempted to lower himself onto his knees, they both discovered the rarely discussed limitations of the Mile High Club. In attempting to reposition his feet, Brendan tripped and banged his head against the small compartment next to the mirror while Ste's hand slipped from the sink, and the only thing that prevented them from crashing on the floor was the very tightness of the space surrounding them. Brendan released a slew of swears, while Ste burst out laughing loudly. Brendan eventually followed suit.

A sharp knock on the door made them both jump. b

"Is everything okay in there?" A woman's voice called out in an American accent.

Ste had to cover his mouth with both hands to stifle his giggles while Brendan composed himself and spoke up.

"Everything's fine!"

"There's only one person allowed in the restroom at a time," the flight attendant declared.

"Be right out!" Brendan replied looking at Ste, who was on the verge of tears from suppressed laughter. He leaned in and gave Ste a soft, lingering kiss, quieting his giggles. They looked at each other, smiling, for a moment before Brendan stepped as far back as he could to allow Ste to pull his slacks back up.

They exited the bathroom and walked past the visibly annoyed flight attendant towards their seat. Apparently, they had been loud enough to wake most of the cabin, as various unfamiliar eyes stared at them blatantly through their slow walk to their seats, their hair mussed and clothing disheveled. This added a whole new meaning to 'walk of shame'.

Ste avoided everyone's gaze and stared directly at the floor, while Brendan gazed defiantly back at select people, occasionally cocking his head toward them in a menacing manner. Back in their seats, they held hands and giggled for the next hour. They had clearly failed at joining the Mile High Club, but no matter. Brendan wasn't the type to give up, and there was always the flight back to England.


End file.
